Lincolnshire has two of the fastest growing areas for population in England and Wales, new figures have shown.

The Office For National Statistics has published the first results from its 2011 Census, carried out last March.

They show Boston and South Holland experienced a growth in population between 2001 and 2011 more than double the average for England and Wales.

Births outnumbering deaths and immigration were cited as factors in the increase.

The figures showed Boston's population rose from 55,800 to 64,600 over the ten years - an increase of 15.8%.

South Holland saw numbers rise from 76,700 to 88,300 in the same period - up 15.1%.

This compared to a 10% increase for Lincolnshire during that time and a 7.1% overall rise for England and Wales.

Immigration 'key driver'

Adam Peacock, principle development officer for Lincolnshire County Council's research information team, said: "There aren't any major surprises in there for us. We've seen high growth in population in the county over the past few years.

"Certainly we see high levels of migration into the county and, as always, we put that down to the quality of life in the area in terms of the natural environment, schools, low crime and the actual physical space."

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Mark Simmonds, Conservative MP for Boston, said he felt sure immigration was the key driver in the increase.

He said: "We haven't seen the breakdown for these figures - they'll come out in another four or five months in terms of age, gender and nationality of the population - but that seems to be the case.

"If you look at those places in the UK which have higher increases in population than Boston, they all tend to be areas where there has been a significant immigrant influx in the population."

Owen Abbott, from the Office For National Statistics, said the 3.7m increase in the population of England and Wales could be largely put down to increased migration and natural change, with the number of births outstripping the number of deaths.

He said a more detailed breakdown of the growth figures would be released later in the year.